Map Section is not open note!!!
Be able to identify where these 30 countries are… United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman, Yemen, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, N/S Korea, Japan
Cold War
What was the Cold War? The United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a war in which the two enemies did not actually fight each other. Instead each side began building up its military forces and arms to intimidate each other.
What was the Yalta Conference? An agreement reached near the end of World War II between President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. The three met in Yalta, in the southern Soviet Union, in February 1945, and discussed issues such as the occupation of Germany, free elections in the liberated countries of eastern Europe, the postwar boundaries of Poland and Russia, and a common strategy against Japan. Stalin aided the United States against Japan, as he had promised; but he expanded Soviet influence rapidly into eastern Europe after the war, and the elections he agreed to were never held.
What was the Marshall Plan? A program by which the United States gave large amounts of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after the devastation of World War II. It was proposed by the United States secretary of state, General George C. Marshall.
What was the Truman Doctrine? Truman Doctrine is the common name for the Cold War strategy of containment versus the Soviet Union and the expansion of communism. This doctrine was first promulgated by President Harry Truman in an address to the U.S. Congress on March 12, 1947.
The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan represented attempts by the United States to deal with what? To Contain and stop the spread of Communism
The imaginary line of secrecy and mistrust that separated the USSR and Eastern Europe from the West was known as? Iron Curtain
What was the “Red Scare?” The term McCarthyism is based on the actions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1940’s and 1950’s. McCarthyism signifies the extreme anti-Communist movement that occurred in the United States. History of McCarthyism The period of McCarthyism began in the late 1940s and ended in the mid to late 1950s. McCarthyism came to be synonymous with the term witch-hunt, the act of making serious but unsubstantiated charges against people in public life. McCarthyism is also used today as a more all-purpose term to describe the general practice of making false allegations, specifically of pro-Communist activity and most often based on irrelevant evidence. McCarthyism is associated with the Red Scare and often referred to as the Second Red Scare. The Red Scare is the applied term given to a time in which Americans feared Communist influence in the United States from 1917 to 1920. McCarthyism brought about the Second Red Scare in the United States in the late 1940s. On February 25, 1954 Senator Joseph McCarthy took on the United States army. He issued summonses to army officers, the brigadier general and accused the army of giving an honorable discharge to an alleged communist sympathizer. It was the beginning of the end for what was known as McCarthyism.
Why the Korean War is called the forgotten war? Americans under the United Nations’ flag fought a war in Korea from 1950-1953. The war is considered forgotten because most Americans find World War II and the Vietnam War to be more significant and of critical importance.
What reasons was the Berlin Wall built? The Berlin Wall, first erected August 13, 1961, was built to prevent people from East Berlin from crossing the border to West Berlin and was taken down on November 9, 1989.
When was it built? August 13, 1961
What impact did it have on Germany and its people? The impact of the Berlin Wall was threefold. First, it separated families. There were many families who lived in different districts in Berlin. If Jurgen and Änne lived in Teltow and Friedrich and Maria lived in Wilmersdorf before World War II, and Jurgen and Maria were brother and sister, after the Wall went up they couldn't see each other any more. Second, it enabled a Soviet occupation on the eastern side of the Wall. And third, it interfered with commerce. The whole DDR/BRD split did.
What counties were involved? West Germany / East Germany
Why was it considered a symbol of the Cold War? The Berlin Wall has stood for nearly three decades as a grim symbol of division and repression in Eastern Europe and as a flash point in U.S.-Soviet relations.
When was it taken down? Fall of the Berlin Wall: symbol of the reunification of Europe.
Space Race/Arms Race
Explain the growth of atomic weapons between the two superpowers. The nuclear arms race was central to the Cold War. Many feared where the Cold War was going with the belief that the more nuclear weapons you had, the more powerful you were. Both America and Russia massively built up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a much more dangerous place. However, it is possible that the sheer power of these weapons and the fear that they evoked, may have stopped a nuclear war. USA produced a bomber - the B52 - that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a nuclear pay-load. Such a development required massive financial backing from the government - something which America could afford to do and which Russia could not. Russia concentrated on producing bigger bombs - a far more cost effective procedure. At the end of the 1950’s, American Intelligence estimated that in a Russian missile attack, 20 million Americans would die and 22 million would be injured. During the 1960’s, the Russians put their money into producing more missiles regardless of quality while America built fewer but better quality missiles - the Atlas could go 5,000 miles at a speed of 16,000 mph. By 1961, there were enough bombs to destroy the world. Despite this, great emphasis was put on new weapon systems - mobile missile launchers were built, missiles were housed underground in silos and in 1960 the first Polaris submarine was launched carrying 16 nuclear missiles. Each missile carried four warheads which could targeted on different cities; hence one submarine effectively carried 64 nuclear warheads. In 1967, China exploded an H-bomb. China was a communist country. In the west, NATO felt out-numbered as the table below shows and so had to place her faith in nuclear missiles. During the 1960’s the theory of MAD developed - Mutually Assured Destruction. This meant that if Russia attacked the west, the west would make sure that they would suitably retaliatei.e. there would be no winners.
Who were the two superpowers during the Cold War? U.S.S.R. and the United States
Why was the launch of Sputnik so historically significant toward the space race? In October 1957, the world was introduced to the fear of a missile attack when Sputnik was launched. This was to lead to ICBM’s :Inter-continental ballistic missiles.
List the achievements (firsts) of the Superpowers involved in the Space Race.
Achievement
Country
Crew
Spacecraft
Launch Date
First human in space
Soviet Union
Gagarin
Vostok 1
April 12, 1961
First American in space
United States
Shepard
Freedom 7
May 5, 1961
First daylong spaceflight
Soviet Union
Titov
Vostok 2
August 6, 1961
First woman in space
Soviet Union
Tereshkova
Vostok 6
June 16, 1963
First multi-person spaceflight
Soviet Union
Komarov, Yegorov, Feoktistov
Voskhod 1
October 12, 1964
First spacewalk
Soviet Union
Belyayev, Leonov
Voskhod 2
March 18, 1965
First 8-day space mission
United States
Cooper, Conrad
Gemini 5
August 21, 1965
First space rendezvous
United States
Schirra, Stafford
Gemini 6
December 15, 1965
First two-week space mission
United States
Borman, Lovell
Gemini 7
December 4, 1965
First space docking
United States
Armstrong, Scott
Gemini 8
March 16, 1966
First lunar-orbit flight
United States
Borman, Lovell, Anders
Apollo 8
December 21, 1968
First lunar landing
United States
Armstrong, Collins, Aldrin
Apollo 11
July 16, 1969
Robotic missions
Achievement
Country
Spacecraft
Launch Date
First closeup photos of moon
United States
Ranger 7
July 28, 1964
First interplanetary flyby
United States
Mariner 2
August 27, 1962
First closeup photos of Mars
United States
Mariner 4
November 28, 1964
First photos from moon's surface
Soviet Union
Luna 9
January 31, 1966
First lunar satellite
Soviet Union
Luna 10
March 31, 1966
First automatic space docking
Soviet Union
Cosmos 186-188
October 27 / October 30, 1967
Cuban Missile Crisis
How were the missiles discovered? U-2 spyplanes and U.S. Navy low-level reconnaissance aircraft
Why were the missiles sent to Cuba? In September 1962, the Cuban and Soviet governments began to surreptitiously build bases in Cuba for a number of medium- and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles with the ability to strike most of the continental United States.
What countries were involved? U.S.S.R., Cuba, United States
Who were the historical personalities involved and their roles? JFK, Nikita Khrushchev, Castro
Vietnam War
What reasons did the War start? The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict or the American War, was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The Viet Cong, a lightly-armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The North Vietnamese Army engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery and airstrikes. The United States entered the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. Military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (See: Vietnam War casualties), including 3 to 4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58,159 U.S. soldiers. By this war's end, the Vietnamese had been fighting foreign involvement or occupation in various wars for over a hundred years.
What counties were involved? Anti-Communist forces: South Vietnam United States South Korea Australia Philippines New Zealand Thailand Khmer Republic Kingdom of Laos Republic of China Communist forces: North Vietnam Viet Cong Khmer Rouge Pathet Lao People's Republic of China Soviet Union North Korea
What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and why was it so important? A joint resolution of the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in response to a sea battle between the North Vietnamese Navy's Torpedo Squadron 135 and the destroyer USS Maddox on 02 August 1964, and an alleged second naval engagement between North Vietnamese torpedo boats and the US destroyers USS Maddox and USS, This was important because it gave the United States justification for entering and fighting in Vietnam.
What was the Tet Offensive? The attacks by Communist forces inside South Vietnam's major cities and towns that began around the Vietnamese New Year (“Tet”) of 1 February 1968 were the peak of an offensive that took place over a period of several months during the Vietnam War. Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the American commander in Vietnam, believed the attacks to be a last “throw of the dice” by the losing side. The attacks that Americans dubbed the “Tet Offensive” were just part of what the Communists called a “General Offensive and Uprising,” designed to jolt the war into a new phase.
How many casualties did America suffer during the Vietnam War? 58,159 U.S. soldiers
What was the outcome of the War? The Case-Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress prohibited use of American military after August 15, 1973 unless the president secured congressional approval in advance.The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. North Vietnamese victory Eventual communist takeover of South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
What is the name of Saigon since the end of the Vietnam War? I screwed this one up – it should be opposite Saigon is the former name of Ho Chi Minh city
Reagan Presidency
The "supply side" economics of President Ronald Reagan favored what? Lowering taxes to allow individuals to invest in new businesses
What was the economic plan called (nickname for supply side economics)? Reaganomics
What two factors caused the federal debt to grow during the 1980s? Higher defense spending (Military spending) and lower taxes
A primary reason for the increase in federal debt between 1980 and 1996 was? Government spent more money than it collected
Why did Reagan send troops to the island of Grenada in 1983? To stop the Island’s government from becoming Communist and to protect the United States medical students
Who became the first woman to run for the vice presidency on a major political party ticket? Geraldine Ferraro
What was the Strategic Defense Initiative? Proposed U.S. strategic defense system against nuclear attacks. Announced as a 20-year, $20 billion effort by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1983, SDI was intended to defend the U.S. from a full-fledged Soviet attack by intercepting ICBMs in flight. The interception was to be effected by technology not yet developed, including space- and ground-based laser stations and air- and ground-based missiles. The space component of SDI led to its being derisively dubbed "Star Wars" after the popular film.
What was the Iran / Contra Scandal? Hoping to release hostage’s held in Lebanon, Reagan officials made a deal with Iran’s Islamic leaders to supply them with weapons which funneled money to secret arms sales to help Nicaraguan Contras.
Who was the main person tried for the Iran/Contra scandal? Oliver North
Bush Presidency
What were the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty? START (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994 .[1] The treaty was signed by the United States and the USSR, that barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 percent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence. Proposed by United States President Ronald Reagan, it was renamed START I after negotiations began on the second START treaty, which became START II.
Who was Iraq’s dictator in 1990? Saddam Hussein
What event happened on November 9, 1989? The fall of the Berlin Wall
What was Gorbachev’s policy that allowed Soviet citizens to express themselves openly? Glasnost
What does glasnost mean? to open up
How much did the government bailout of failing Savings and Loans cost taxpayers? $500 Billion
A major goal of the Republican Party since the 1980s has been to?
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Who rose to power in the Soviet Union in 1985? Mikhail Gorbachev
What was the (INF)? What did it accomplish? The treaty aimed to reduce the number of nuclear missiles in each superpower’s arsenal.
China’s slaughter of protesters happened where? Tiananmen Square
What happened at Tiananmen Square? The crushing of a pro-democracy rally by the Chinese government
How many protestors were killed? Trick Question – no one actually knows – Estimates range from 273 (China’s official total) to 5000?
When did the Berlin Wall fall? November 9, 1989
When did the Soviet Union Break Up?
What was Glasnost and Perestroika? Glasnost was a policy of open discussion of political opinion and social issues and freer disclosure of information.
Perestroika was a program instituted in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s to restructure Soviet political and economic policy. Gorbachev proposed reducing the direct involvement of the Communist Party leadership in the country's governance and increasing the local governments' authority. Seeking to bring the Soviet Union up to economic par with capitalist countries such as Germany, Japan, and the U.S., he decentralized economic controls and encouraged enterprises to become self-financing. The economic bureaucracy, fearing loss of its power and privileges, obstructed much of his program.
Why was the fall of communism in the Soviet Union so significant? Answers will vary
In how many independent countries did the Soviet Union decay in 1991? 15 Republics have declared independence since the fall of the Soviet Union
Who were the U.S. Presidents that were involved in the Cold War? Truman, Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush
Map Section is not open note!!!
Be able to identify where these 30 countries are…
United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman, Yemen, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, N/S Korea, Japan
Cold War
What was the Cold War?
The United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a war in which the two enemies did not actually fight each other. Instead each side began building up its military forces and arms to intimidate each other.
What was the Yalta Conference?
An agreement reached near the end of World War II between President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Britain, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. The three met in Yalta, in the southern Soviet Union, in February 1945, and discussed issues such as the occupation of Germany, free elections in the liberated countries of eastern Europe, the postwar boundaries of Poland and Russia, and a common strategy against Japan. Stalin aided the United States against Japan, as he had promised; but he expanded Soviet influence rapidly into eastern Europe after the war, and the elections he agreed to were never held.
What was the Marshall Plan?
A program by which the United States gave large amounts of economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild after the devastation of World War II. It was proposed by the United States secretary of state, General George C. Marshall.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
Truman Doctrine is the common name for the Cold War strategy of containment versus the Soviet Union and the expansion of communism. This doctrine was first promulgated by President Harry Truman in an address to the U.S. Congress on March 12, 1947.
The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan represented attempts by the United States to deal with what?
To Contain and stop the spread of Communism
The imaginary line of secrecy and mistrust that separated the USSR and Eastern Europe from the West was known as?
Iron Curtain
What was the “Red Scare?”
The term McCarthyism is based on the actions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1940’s and 1950’s. McCarthyism signifies the extreme anti-Communist movement that occurred in the United States.
History of McCarthyism
The period of McCarthyism began in the late 1940s and ended in the mid to late 1950s. McCarthyism came to be synonymous with the term witch-hunt, the act of making serious but unsubstantiated charges against people in public life. McCarthyism is also used today as a more all-purpose term to describe the general practice of making false allegations, specifically of pro-Communist activity and most often based on irrelevant evidence.
McCarthyism is associated with the Red Scare and often referred to as the Second Red Scare. The Red Scare is the applied term given to a time in which Americans feared Communist influence in the United States from 1917 to 1920. McCarthyism brought about the Second Red Scare in the United States in the late 1940s.
On February 25, 1954 Senator Joseph McCarthy took on the United States army. He issued summonses to army officers, the brigadier general and accused the army of giving an honorable discharge to an alleged communist sympathizer. It was the beginning of the end for what was known as McCarthyism.
Why the Korean War is called the forgotten war?
Americans under the United Nations’ flag fought a war in Korea from 1950-1953. The war is considered forgotten because most Americans find World War II and the Vietnam War to be more significant and of critical importance.
What reasons was the Berlin Wall built?
The Berlin Wall, first erected August 13, 1961, was built to prevent people from East Berlin from crossing the border to West Berlin and was taken down on November 9, 1989.
When was it built?
August 13, 1961
What impact did it have on Germany and its people?
The impact of the Berlin Wall was threefold. First, it separated families. There were many families who lived in different districts in Berlin.
If Jurgen and Änne lived in Teltow and Friedrich and Maria lived in Wilmersdorf before World War II, and Jurgen and Maria were brother and sister, after the Wall went up they couldn't see each other any more.
Second, it enabled a Soviet occupation on the eastern side of the Wall.
And third, it interfered with commerce. The whole DDR/BRD split did.
What counties were involved?
West Germany / East Germany
Why was it considered a symbol of the Cold War?
The Berlin Wall has stood for nearly three decades as a grim symbol of division and repression in Eastern Europe and as a flash point in U.S.-Soviet relations.
When was it taken down?
Fall of the Berlin Wall: symbol of the reunification of Europe.
Space Race/Arms Race
Explain the growth of atomic weapons between the two superpowers.
The nuclear arms race was central to the Cold War. Many feared where the Cold War was going with the belief that the more nuclear weapons you had, the more powerful you were. Both America and Russia massively built up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a much more dangerous place.
However, it is possible that the sheer power of these weapons and the fear that they evoked, may have stopped a nuclear war.
USA produced a bomber - the B52 - that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a nuclear pay-load. Such a development required massive financial backing from the government - something which America could afford to do and which Russia could not. Russia concentrated on producing bigger bombs - a far more cost effective procedure.
At the end of the 1950’s, American Intelligence estimated that in a Russian missile attack, 20 million Americans would die and 22 million would be injured.
During the 1960’s, the Russians put their money into producing more missiles regardless of quality while America built fewer but better quality missiles - the Atlas could go 5,000 miles at a speed of 16,000 mph. By 1961, there were enough bombs to destroy the world.
Despite this, great emphasis was put on new weapon systems - mobile missile launchers were built, missiles were housed underground in silos and in 1960 the first Polaris submarine was launched carrying 16 nuclear missiles. Each missile carried four warheads which could targeted on different cities; hence one submarine effectively carried 64 nuclear warheads.
In 1967, China exploded an H-bomb. China was a communist country. In the west, NATO felt out-numbered as the table below shows and so had to place her faith in nuclear missiles.
During the 1960’s the theory of MAD developed - Mutually Assured Destruction. This meant that if Russia attacked the west, the west would make sure that they would suitably retaliate i.e. there would be no winners.
Who were the two superpowers during the Cold War?
U.S.S.R. and the United States
Why was the launch of Sputnik so historically significant toward the space race?
In October 1957, the world was introduced to the fear of a missile attack when Sputnik was launched. This was to lead to ICBM’s : Inter-continental ballistic missiles.
List the achievements (firsts) of the Superpowers involved in the Space Race.
Cuban Missile Crisis
How were the missiles discovered?
U-2 spyplanes and U.S. Navy low-level reconnaissance aircraft
Why were the missiles sent to Cuba?
In September 1962, the Cuban and Soviet governments began to surreptitiously build bases in Cuba for a number of medium- and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles with the ability to strike most of the continental United States.
What countries were involved?
U.S.S.R., Cuba, United States
Who were the historical personalities involved and their roles?
JFK, Nikita Khrushchev, Castro
Vietnam War
What reasons did the War start?
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, the Vietnam Conflict or the American War, was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations.
The Viet Cong, a lightly-armed South Vietnamese communist-controlled common front, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The North Vietnamese Army engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery and airstrikes.
The United States entered the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. Military advisors arrived beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. Involvement peaked in 1968 at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were withdrawn as part of a policy called Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.
The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities (See: Vietnam War casualties), including 3 to 4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58,159 U.S. soldiers. By this war's end, the Vietnamese had been fighting foreign involvement or occupation in various wars for over a hundred years.
What counties were involved?
Anti-Communist forces:
South Vietnam
United States
South Korea
Australia
Philippines
New Zealand
Thailand
Khmer Republic
Kingdom of Laos
Republic of China
Communist forces:
North Vietnam
Viet Cong
Khmer Rouge
Pathet Lao
People's Republic of China
Soviet Union
North Korea
What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and why was it so important?
A joint resolution of the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in response to a sea battle between the North Vietnamese Navy's Torpedo Squadron 135 and the destroyer USS Maddox on 02 August 1964, and an alleged second naval engagement between North Vietnamese torpedo boats and the US destroyers USS Maddox and USS,
This was important because it gave the United States justification for entering and fighting in Vietnam.
What was the Tet Offensive?
The attacks by Communist forces inside South Vietnam's major cities and towns that began around the Vietnamese New Year (“Tet”) of 1 February 1968 were the peak of an offensive that took place over a period of several months during the Vietnam War. Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the American commander in Vietnam, believed the attacks to be a last “throw of the dice” by the losing side. The attacks that Americans dubbed the “Tet Offensive” were just part of what the Communists called a “General Offensive and Uprising,” designed to jolt the war into a new phase.
How many casualties did America suffer during the Vietnam War?
58,159 U.S. soldiers
What was the outcome of the War?
The Case-Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress prohibited use of American military after August 15, 1973 unless the president secured congressional approval in advance.The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War. North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year.
North Vietnamese victory
Eventual communist takeover of South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
What is the name of Saigon since the end of the Vietnam War?
I screwed this one up – it should be opposite
Saigon is the former name of Ho Chi Minh city
Reagan Presidency
The "supply side" economics of President Ronald Reagan favored what?
Lowering taxes to allow individuals to invest in new businesses
What was the economic plan called (nickname for supply side economics)?
Reaganomics
What two factors caused the federal debt to grow during the 1980s?
Higher defense spending (Military spending) and lower taxes
A primary reason for the increase in federal debt between 1980 and 1996 was?
Government spent more money than it collected
Why did Reagan send troops to the island of Grenada in 1983?
To stop the Island’s government from becoming Communist and to protect the United States medical students
Who became the first woman to run for the vice presidency on a major political party ticket?
Geraldine Ferraro
What was the Strategic Defense Initiative?
Proposed U.S. strategic defense system against nuclear attacks. Announced as a 20-year, $20 billion effort by Pres. Ronald Reagan in 1983, SDI was intended to defend the U.S. from a full-fledged Soviet attack by intercepting ICBMs in flight. The interception was to be effected by technology not yet developed, including space- and ground-based laser stations and air- and ground-based missiles. The space component of SDI led to its being derisively dubbed "Star Wars" after the popular film.
What was the Iran / Contra Scandal?
Hoping to release hostage’s held in Lebanon, Reagan officials made a deal with Iran’s Islamic leaders to supply them with weapons which funneled money to secret arms sales to help Nicaraguan Contras.
Who was the main person tried for the Iran/Contra scandal?
Oliver North
Bush Presidency
What were the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty?
START (for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994 .[1] The treaty was signed by the United States and the USSR, that barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads atop a total of 1,600 ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and bombers. START negotiated the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, and its final implementation in late 2001 resulted in the removal of about 80 percent of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence. Proposed by United States President Ronald Reagan, it was renamed START I after negotiations began on the second START treaty, which became START II.
Who was Iraq’s dictator in 1990?
Saddam Hussein
What event happened on November 9, 1989?
The fall of the Berlin Wall
What was Gorbachev’s policy that allowed Soviet citizens to express themselves openly?
Glasnost
What does glasnost mean?
to open up
How much did the government bailout of failing Savings and Loans cost taxpayers?
$500 Billion
A major goal of the Republican Party since the 1980s has been to?
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Who rose to power in the Soviet Union in 1985?
Mikhail Gorbachev
What was the (INF)? What did it accomplish?
The treaty aimed to reduce the number of nuclear missiles in each superpower’s arsenal.
China’s slaughter of protesters happened where?
Tiananmen Square
What happened at Tiananmen Square?
The crushing of a pro-democracy rally by the Chinese government
How many protestors were killed?
Trick Question – no one actually knows – Estimates range from 273 (China’s official total) to 5000?
When did the Berlin Wall fall?
November 9, 1989
When did the Soviet Union Break Up?
What was Glasnost and Perestroika?
Glasnost was a policy of open discussion of political opinion and social issues and freer disclosure of information.
Perestroika was a program instituted in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s to restructure Soviet political and economic policy. Gorbachev proposed reducing the direct involvement of the Communist Party leadership in the country's governance and increasing the local governments' authority. Seeking to bring the Soviet Union up to economic par with capitalist countries such as Germany, Japan, and the U.S., he decentralized economic controls and encouraged enterprises to become self-financing. The economic bureaucracy, fearing loss of its power and privileges, obstructed much of his program.
Why was the fall of communism in the Soviet Union so significant?
Answers will vary
In how many independent countries did the Soviet Union decay in 1991?
15 Republics have declared independence since the fall of the Soviet Union
Who were the U.S. Presidents that were involved in the Cold War?
Truman, Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush